Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2026: Pogacar still in charge, Seixas second

fotobureau Cor VosOn La Redoute, Tadej Pogacar and Paul Seixas ride away from the rest of the field, and on the Roche-aux-Faucons the world champion manages to shake off the Frenchman. He opens up a gap of well over a minute and wins Liège–Bastogne–Liège for the fourth time in his career. One more to go and he will equal record holder Eddy Merckx. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 2026 Liège-Bastogne-Liège

1. Tadej Pogacar (slo) 5:50:28
2. Paul Seixas (fra) + 0:45
3. Remco Evenepoel (bel) + 1:42
4. Emiel Verstrynge (bel) s.t.
5. Egan Bernal (col) s.t.
6. Pello Bilbao (spa) s.t.
7. Romain Grégoire (fra) s.t.
8. Christian Scaroni (ita) s.t.
9. Tobias Halland Johannessen (nor) s.t.
10. Filippo Zana (ita) s.t.

Race report

Early in the race, the peloton splits in two. Remco Evenepoel is in the front group, Tadej Pogacar in the second. And so the race ignites early on, with BORA driving the pace at the front and UAE Emirates in the second group. As they can’t close the gap down quickly, Pogacar's men abandon the chase and the gap grows to 4 minutes.

The first group initially consists of 52 riders. Besides Evenepoel, Egan Bernal and Quinten Hermans are also present there. The other pre-race favourites are in the main peloton.

On the Col de Haussire, the lead of the front peloton drops to 2 minutes, and by the Côte de Wanne the early mega break is over. Alexander Kamp, Gijs Leemreize and Hugo Houle refuse to give in, but they are caught at the foot of the Stockeu.

Up to the Redoute, the group stays together, and on the Redoute Remco Evenepoel is quickly dropped. Tadej Pogacar then attacks with 930 metres to go to the summit, and Paul Seixas follows him like a shadow. The world champion goes all out to shake off the youngster, but is unable to do so.

Mattias Skjelmose crests the summit in third place, nearly half a minute behind the duo, before the Dane drops back into the Evenepoel-led chase group in the run-up the the Côte des Forges. Not that they gain even a second; in fact, Pogacar and Seixas start the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons 1 minute and 30 seconds ahead of them.

With 550 metres to the summit, the world champion drops the Frenchman and by the time he reaches the top he has opened a 20-second gap. Roughly 2 minutes later, Skjelmose rides away from the chasing group on the Roche-aux-Faucons, but he is reeled back in in the final kilometres.

Pogacar wins La Doyenne for the fourth time in his career and Seixas finishes comfortably in second, after which Evenepoel sprints with a powerful effort to third place.

Other interesting reads: route and start list 2026 Liège–Bastogne–Liège.